Just A Little Cynical
by Konsui's Little Brother
Summary: It wasn't his fault that he finally lost it. Scott had it coming to him for a long time. And Jamie was just the right amount of cynical to give it to him.


They were all standing in the Rec-room, the New Mutants and the original X-Men, in a way that was becoming all too normal. Scott had gathered them here after a DR session, the other Original's following along, for a thorough yelling fit. Scott claimed that it was to 'point out their mistakes so they can further their training' but it was really just another excuse to yell at them.

Jamie, or Multiple as he was more commonly known at the Institute, wasn't really paying any attention. It had become an almost weakly thing, Scott's lectures turned shouting, and he had learned to tune them out half-way through the first were never on anything important and to be honest, Scott didn't really care about the New Mutant's bettering themselves. He didn't really care about them at all.

Which is precisely what Jamie found himself thinking about as he tuned out Scott. It wasn't as if he really had to hear him to know what was being said, first he would address them as a group, then he would tear into them one by one on their personal performance.

Jamie tipped his head back slightely and just barely stopped an irritated sigh from escaping. Honestly this more than bothered him, it infuriated him. The Original's didn't know squat about the rest of his team, it was really just the New Mutant's that Jamie considered to be a part of his team, and what they did 'know' was mostly wrong. And yet they were still lumped together as one group, still considered the X-Babies, and generally looked down upon.

But the Original team hadn't gone head-to-head with the rest of the New Mutant's yet. If they did, and Jamie had tried to get Logan to organize this for awhile, then he was pretty sure that things would go differently from then on. The New Mutant's might not 'win' against the Original's persay but they would put up a darn-good fight.

Shifting his weight slightly, Jamie blinked a few times in an attempt to bring himself semi back to reality. It wouldn't do good to be blanking when Scott got to him. But the older man was still 'talking' to Rahne. Not that Jamie was actually listening to the worlds he was saying, because even though he wasn't lost in his own thoughts he still wasn't paying attention. At least he wasn't until he heard it.

The noise was a cross between a human sob and the whimper-like noise that most four-legged animals would make when distressed. It was an unsetteling sound, a very unsetteling sound that made the hairs along Jamie's neck stand on end, but it wasn't completely unfamilar. That was the noise that Rahne made before she broke down, on bad occasions she would revert to her full-wolf form and couldn't get herself to change back. So of course Jamie decided that he should probably be listening to what was going on.

"-Just froze up and than you ran! What do you think would have happened if that wasn't just a simulation? If that had been an actual enemy? Your team could have died!" Scott's voice wasn't the least bit 'Leaderly' and Jamie felt the ever-present anger at the older mutant surfacing.

He didn't have to have been paying attention earlier to know what Scott was talking about. Rahne had problems in their earlier training session, freezing up and then fleeing from the room, when she had been faced by a wall of flames. Jamie didn't blame her, none of the New Mutant's did, because they knew the reason why it had happened. Scott didn't know and couldn't care less. Jamie's mental point, one that he had never spoken out loud because he didn't need to be known as a 'cynical klutz' despite the fact that he was, was proved only moments later.

The young Irish girl had practically knocked Sam over in her way out of the room, transforming to her lupine form the moment that the door was opened, and dissapearing around the hall-way. Jubilee and Sam were both quick to give chase after the younger mutant, ignoring the stuttered orders from Scott to stop, and they too were soon dissapearing out of the door.

And that was when Jamie 'snapped'. He had done his best to hide his cynical look on life, and people, for several years now and it was all about to come flying out.

"You really don't have a clue about any of us, do you?" His voice came out harsher than normally, low and almost gravelly sounding, but it had the desired affect. The silence that had decended around the room for the last few seconds had been broken and all eyes had turned to him.

Scott's voice held nothing short of surprise, and maybe a little contempt, when he gave a loud, "What?"

Jamie snorted, pushing himself away from the wall as he did so. "Wow. You really have no idea what just happened?" There was contempt in his voice too, contempt that you would normally associate with someone like Rouge or Ray. Not him.

"Rahne's afraid of fire. Probably just as much as Kurt is." He jerked his head in the direction of the stunned, blue mutant. All of the X-Men, not including the New Recruits, seemed completely stunned at Jamie's behaviour.

"What are you going on about Kid?" Scott had wrinkled his nose, a slight look of discomfort starting to worm its way over his features.

And Jamie just shook his head. He wasn't surprised really, not in the least, but it was still pathetic. Scott was suppossed to be the big hero of the group, someone that the New Mutant's could look up to. Not someone that made people younger than him loose control over their emotions, and subsequently their powers, and certaintly not someone that could make him loose his carefully controlled apearence.

Because that was what had happened. In the term of a few short minutes, Jamie's still-child-like appearence had dissapeared and been replaced with his actual, cynical personality. Was it really a wonder as to why he didn't listen to Scott's lectures?

"Her father tried to burn her at the stake you idiot." Jamie kept his voice carefully controlled, carefully void of the curses that he would have loved to thrown in there. There wasn't any reason to shock them more than he already had, after all, he wasn't trying to give them a heart-attack.

Jamie watched in satisfaction as Scott sputtered, a horrified look crossing his face, and the X-Men behind him took on similar expressions. The New Mutant's weren't really surprised at Jamie's 'outburst', they were used to this behavior, so they just sort of glared at the Original X-Men.

Jamie shook his head, the light catching on his earrings as he did so, and let out a hollow laugh. "Face it you idiot. You don't know a freakin' thing about any of us. But don't worry, we know that we're just background noise to you."

Another snort and Jamie was walking from the room. "If you'll all excuse me, I have to go help Sam and Jubes get Rahne out from under her bed." He pushed the door open, pausing to cast another glare over his shoulder, before stepping into the hallway and letting the door slam behind him.

He hadn't been rude in there, hadn't stepped out of line, he'd just pointed out the facts. Pointed out the fact that none of the Original X-Men knew a thing about the New Mutants, pointed out that the New Mutants knew the older team didn't care.

He'd just been a little cynical.


End file.
